28 to fight it out for Vellore LS seat

As many as 28 candidates are in the fray for the Vellore Lok Sabha election, Collector and constituency returning officer A Shanmugasundaram told reporters on Monday.

Only three candidates – J Hassain of Wallajahpet, Dhanalakshami of Vellore and AG Shanmugam of Omalur in Salem district, withdrew their nominations on Monday, the Collector said.

Those in the fray, include 18 independents and 10 from various political outfits. Their symbols are given in brackets. Candidates list has NDA’s AC Shanmugam (Two Leaves), DMK’s DM Kathir Anand (Rising Sun), Deepalakshmi of Naam Tamilar Katchi (Kissan), GS Ganesan Yadav of Bhahujan Samajwadi Party (Key), V Sekar of the All Pensioners Party (Hat), S Divya of Desiya Makkal Kazhagam (Water Melon), Naresh Kumar of TN Youth Party (Cycle Pump), Bishop Godfrey Nobel of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi (Ring), Vijay Paulraj of the Republican Sena (Diamond) and Mohanam of the Marumalarachi Janata Party (Laptop).

Elaborating on the arrangements for the August 5 poling, the Collector Shanmugasundaram said, as an EVM can accommodate only 16 names, arrangements would be made to provide 2 EVMs with all names included.